MOUNTAIN VIEW COUNTY - A major update of the county’s land use bylaw has been completed, with councillors giving final reading to the changes at the recent regularly scheduled council meeting.
“The changes reflect the evolving needs of our community, like addition accommodations for agriculture workers, reduced setbacks for development and increased public participation and appeal opportunities for certain types of developments,” reeve Angela Aalbers told the Albertan.
“Council believes the updates to the bylaw will provide a good balance to land use for our ratepayers."
Including several open houses and information sessions, the update was made to identify and provide aments to the bylaw on an ongoing basis to ensure alignment of statutory plan polices and identify items requiring review, she said.
The bylaw governs land use throughout the municipality, including regarding condominiums, offences and fines, event centres, gravel operations, shipping containers, seasonal farm worker accommodations, and many other another topics.
The updated bylaw received first reading on March 13, following by a public hearing on April 10, and final reading on May 22.
The review was broken down into two categories, technical consideration to provide clarity and consistency within the document as well as to make minor corrections and grammatical amendments.
The second category was items for discussion requiring research and discussion with council at workshops to determine how the proposed changes could be incorporated into the land use bylaw, should council consider it appropriate.
Asked by the Albertan to identify some of the highlight changes to the legislation, reeve Aalbers included the following:
• Allowance for the placement of one shipping container in R-CR1 with the issuance of a development permit.
• The county recognizes the need for accommodation for seasonal farm workers. In support of farming operations throughout the county, an exemption for the use of recreational vehicles for temporary accommodations now forms part of the bylaw.
• The county recognizes the need for a streamlined process in approving housing that supports farming operations throughout the county. The approved change allows for prefabricated dwellings over 20 years old to be considered as a permitted use instead of a discretionary use on un-subdivided quarters zoned agricultural district. This is a simpler, more time-sensitive process to apply for a prefabricated dwelling where the bylaw allows.
• The county reduced the current setbacks for farm buildings and exempt use accessory buildings.
• The county added a definition of agricultural within the bylaw and also amended the definition of livestock to match the province’s Agricultural Operations Practices Act definition.
• In response to the successful “Open for Business” campaign, and the council endorsed Business Support Pilot Project, the definitions for business agri-tourism and riding arena, public were amended to allow for the approving authority to consider unserviced, self-contained accommodation with issuance of a development permit. Each application will be evaluated on its own merits and camping/overnight accommodation use is not guaranteed.
• The county has three condominium recreational developments known as Coyote Creek Recreational Resort, Bergen Springs Estates, and Tall Timber RV Leisure Park that contain condominium boards and bylaws. To assist with clear, consistent communication between the condo boards and the county, an applicant is required to submit condo board approval with the development permit application for the three recreational developments.
• An event centre can be applied for within the parks and recreation zoning district. The county recognizes this use may cause off-site impacts and therefore a list of specific use regulations was added within the bylaw.
• Insect production facilities was added as a discretionary use in industrial districts only therefore creating sufficient buffering from conflicting land uses.
• An amendment was added to prohibit the import or export of unauthorized waste into or within MVC.
• Minimum specified penalties were added into the offences and fines section of the bylaw in addition to providing clarity in the bylaw that the approving authority has the discretion to waive penalty fees for bylaw infractions if the offender comes in to rectify the situation without delay once the infraction has been identified.
• To provide more clarity when referring to jurisdictional matters that relate to sand and gravel operations, additional wording was placed with the specific use regulations of the bylaw, mentioning that development permit approval shall exclude extraction or mining below the water table and that provincial Water Act approvals are required when an activity impacts a water body or when the works will divert and use surface or groundwater.
“I’m very happy with the process council followed for the bylaw review,” said reeve Aalbers. “Council took the time required to engage the public through in-person open houses as well as various online platforms,” she said.
The complete updated and amended bylaw is available for viewing on the county’s website.
